doesn't want to and he's just happy to be on the map. >> thank you. you should all have seen it. jim was absolutely rocking that dance while the piece was running. >> all over the place. >> do you want to give us a preview? >> unfortunately, i think we're out of time. >> yes, of course now we're out of time. but we'll be back on monday. until then, please don't forget, tweet me at kate bolduan. erin burnett "outfront" starts erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com "outfront" next, president obama visited a toy factory today. and while everyone in washington is acting rather childish about the fiscal cliff, this is not child's play. u days left and susan rice facing new skrcrutiny today fro democrats. this time about her personal investments and the number of drones has surged. the newest versions though, pretty incredible. they look like a cheetah and a fish. let's go "outfront."

good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, a washington stop playing battleship. yes. battleship. we went out and bought it because we wanted to remind you, the kids game where the goal is, i'll read it, can you sink your opponent's fleet before your opponent sinks yours? pretty perfect. this fiscal cliff though is not child's play. it's just 33 days away and today, president obama's visit to a toy factory in pennsylvania had everyone acting a bit childish. >> i've been keeping my own naughty and nice lists. >> we're not interesting in playing. >> i wasn't going to have him building roller coasters all day long. >> sure, who doesn't want to be a kid again, but washington, you have real work to do. a looming fiscal cliff and what

are we hearing? as jeff sessions says -- >> a lot of flimflam. >> flimflam. we told you last night that tim geithner hopscotched his way down pennsylvania avenue to bring the president's proposal from the white house to capitol hill and instead of offering compromise, he leapt to the extreme. his plan taxes $1.6 trillion of taxes. higher tax rates on people, families making more than $250,000 as well as closing loopholes, limiting deductions, raising the estate tax rate and increasing the taxes on capital gains and dividends and the plan spends nearly $200 billion. another stimulus package of 50 billion. an extension of unemployment benefits around 30 billion and an extension of the payroll tax cut estimated at about $114 billion. but the geithner plan didn't cut spending. in run for that, the president offers $400 billion of cuts and

toe, john boehner basically said go fish. >> was not a serious proposal. and so, right now, we're almost nowhere. >> just when we needed someone to not say hey, mom, he was nasty. so i can be, too. boehner, like geithner, leapt to the extreme. republicans, the best response to a nonstarter could be to put a real thoughtful compromise deal on the table. an alternative and as for mr. geithner, he wasn't alone either. remember, mr. president, the promise you made during the campaign? >> $2.50 for every cut, we ask for a dollar of additional revenue. >> that means you'd neen $4 trillion in spending cut to match, but you only offered 400 billion, which of course is $3.6 trillion short before you even get to the stimulus plan and

other spending items. ethan pollak, steven moore, you guys ready the play? >> sure. >> we are. >> i know you spoke to our producer today and he seems to think nobody can beat him at this game. the best in the world. steven, a few weeks ago, you were optimistic. congress' approval ratings seemed to go up because everybody seems so conciliatory. is this going to get done? >> i very rarely admit that i was wrong, but i'm starting to get worried that maybe i was wrong. that these sides are further apart now than they were two weeks ago, which is hard to be. i think this is going to get done. i don't think we're going to go over the fiscal cliff. republicans have put some proposals on the table moving in barack obama's direction. i don't know exactly the game

tim geithner was playing yesterday and thank you, erin, for getting some of this math right. when he came up with yesterday was $4 of new tacks for every dollar of spending cut, that's when john boehner simply said we're nowhere an that's where they are now, but there's 30 days. >> ethan, don't the republicans if they want to break this stalemate, maybe what the president's doing is saying these are the cuts i want to make, so guys, why don't you come up with the rest? >> i don't think that's really a fair criticism. republicans have passed the budget that paul ryan pugt together. now, you may not agree with that budget, but it does outline specific cuts. republicans are on the record for those and would probably say here's our list of cuts, mr. president. what's your list? >> the president has other things he may not have included. say they take it from paul

ryan's budget, but don't they owe him a list? >> they do and they haven't really provided one. there's a great article in politico yesterday. they talk ed about how democrat, the president's come forward with 1.6 trillion in revenue increases, it's been very detailed. and then you know, he asks okay, republicans what do you want on entitlement cut and the republicans have said present us a list of options and then we'll pick from those that are acceptable to you and you know, the administration i think rightly so said no, that's not how this game works. if you want something, you need fo bring it to us, but we're not going to be the ones presenting to you both the revenue and entitlement fix. we don't want to do the second thing as much, so if you want entitlement cuts, you need to propose them to us and we'll talk about that. >> is it possible -- >> you know, i have a suspicion, now, i'm a republican, so i'll admit that, but i'm thinking more and more, the president, he doesn't really sound like he wants to get this deal done.

it's not that hard. the truth is, they're not that far apart. the republicans have put tax increases on the table much to the chagrin of a hot of conservatives. there is a suspicion among republicans that i talk to, the president really wants to squash the republicans and have us go over the cliff and then blame the republican party for it. >> is is it possible, the president doesn't want these cuts that much, but said he would. but republicans, they make this whole thing that entitlements have to be cut, but voters don't like entitlement cuts. nobody wants to be the one to say hey, i'm going to make you work longer, get medicare later, limit how much money you get. that's not politically easy. >> you remember during the campaign, erin, when the democrats ran all these campaigns about paul ryan and the republicans pushing grandma over the edge in her wheelchair.

look, the one thing i think we would agree on, you're not going to get anywhere in these negotiations or in terms of reducing this $1.1 trillion deficit if you don't do something about these entitlements. so everyone's kind of waiting, when will the president come forward with those? >> if i could just jump in really quick, one of the problems with entitlement cuts is they don't produce a lot of savings in the first ten years. so, if we're going to be obsessively folked on the ratio between revenue and spending, then republicans are going to be in for some disappointment because all the things they want on entitlements basically phase in. this is consistent what they said about not wanting to change things for people over 55. and the fact that even paul ryan and mitt romney ran away from entitlement cuts in paul ryan's budget in the last election i think is a sign of where the

american public is. they want the rich to pay their fair share in taxes, but they really don't like a lot of cuts. >> to some extent. >> and erin, look, in response to what you were just saying about the fact these savings don't really kick in for ten years, that is a legitimate point. look what we did in 1982. the most conservative president and one of p most liberal speakers of the house. when they reached that deal, today, we are reaping huge savings from that, so those savings ten years, 20 years, 30 years from now, those are going to be enormous. we keep punting every time we come to this. the most important factor is the fact we get 80 million baby boomers retiring in the next 20 years. >> immigrants aren't having as many kids, so who's going to

pay. new fears that the regime in syria is growing more desperate. no internet access for the second day. this is a pretty incredible thing to see. republican senators now calling for president obama to arm the opposition now. is that crazy? plus, eric cantor releases his 2013 schedule for the house of representatives today. you know what? you'd love to be one of those guys and a frightening new trend. gangs targets dozens of children every day. coercing them into sex with gifts. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is on. this is the pursuit of perfection.

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our second story "outfront," panic in syria. at this moment tonight, there is fear the assad regime is getting desperate, so today, much of the country experienced a second day without internet access. i just want to show you this chart. internet activity was going up and up, then off. can you just imagine life in that situation? no one is sure why and as

violence continues on the grund, there's a debate at home as to whether even at this what seems to be late hour, that the united states should get involved. senators have repeatedly called for the united states to arm the rebel forces, but the administration is not yet ready to do it. t trz. >> will providing arms convince in many cases because they're afraid of their own existence or lead to more fighting? that is the question that we are considering. >> it's a crucial question. "outfront" tonight, author an former reporter for the "the new york times" and seth jones. good to see you. seth, there's a lot of things we don't know about the rebels. james clapper, the director of national sbel where she knows had warned congress some of the attacks had the hallmarks of al-qaeda. there have been atrocities committed by these rebels.

there appear to be no question about that. ek cougses. a new video posted yesterday showed a man filming himself while he shot ten unarmed prisoners. should we arm the rebels? >> well, i think we should arm and this is not just about arming. this discussion seems to overlook the fact that the rebels need intelligence, supplies. the challenge though is that the largest opposition movement is the free syrian army. the problem though is that we've got a range of sunni extremist groups including al-qaeda's front that operates in syria. it's an extremist group that wants to establish sharia law in syria. it cannot get into the haends of al-qaeda in iraq. >> how can we prevent that? >> that's the question you have to ask and i don't think anybody has the answer to that right now. sort of on the definition of

insanity. we're doing the same thing ore and over again. doing the same thing we did in libya. getting involved in yet again in a civil war. i wonder what those senators will have to say in a year or two or five if we provide a surface to air missile that gets used to take down a jet liner in europe or africa. >> what we saw in libya, all the weapons that have gone missing in northern mali and some apparently got into the hands of hamas and gaza. seems to be libya on steroids in terms of the thipgs that can go wrong. >> i think it's kind of ludicrous to provide them with surface to air missiles. i think what they need more than anything else is ammunition and small arms and really intelligence. especially with the internet going down, it's harder for them to communicate with each other. radios are down across the

coun country. they need help in a range of ways. i think our intelligence apparatus and our special operations units can do this in general a have done this clandestinely over the years, so i think we can do this and provide some oversight. >> if we do it, will it have any impact on the outcome? the u.s. does think strategically. if i'm giving you a done, are cao going to do something for me. >> i think seth and i are a little bit closer than i thought. the question is whether that will make a difference i think on the margin, it makes a difference, but really, assad's greatest advantage is his air force and if we don't provide surface to air missiles and is set up a no fly zone, we're sort of on the margin. >> some said with the road to damascus blocked and the internet being down, no one's sure what's happening. but why do you think the internet is down?

>> it's clearly purposeful and done by the syrian government. they are trying to spy on the internet or were when it was up. but decided it was in their interest. >> how long can they keep it up? >> most insurgencies take about a decade. this has a greater possibly for more blood sshebloodshed. i think if the united states get more involved, turkey, ipg the assad regime will fall eventually, but then the question is how long will the fighting continue among the rest of the groups. that's where the length of time kicks in. >> you think the jordanians are going to be happy with training camps? >> they've already provided assistance and have provided limited trading to opposition.

yes, i think they're there. >> next, a gruelling day of cross-examination for the man at the center of the wikileaks classified investigation. bradley manning accused of leaking thousands of documents that ended up on julian assange's website. and the world of espionage takes a strange turn. fish, animal, drones.

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the biggest classified leak in history. a gruelling day of cross-examination has just ended for the man accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents that ended up on wikileaks. prosecutors tried to poke holes in bradley manning's story. he said he was abused in quantico, virginia. in fact, he testified he contemplated suicide while in custody because of the conditions and that he was forced to stand naked in front of guards. if convicted, he could face life in prison. "outfront" tonight, chris lawrence.

prosecutors tried to poke some holes in that today, did they succeed? >> in some ways, very much so. they got manning to admit they never ordered him to drop the blanket covering his body. manning had made a crack because they had placed so many restrictions on him that if he wanted to kill himself, he could hang himself by his underwear. the guards took that seriously and that night, he was stripped naked except for a blanket. when he got up the next morning, he had to stand at parade rest. now, manning had to admit today that he inferred that he had to drop that blanket. admitted today, they never said that. in fact, manning said in later days, the guards always put his clothes on his food tray and he was given plenty of time to get dressed before standing.

>> one question, whether there would be a plea deal. is there a plea deal being talkeded about? >> there is. it's a deal in which manning would plead guilty to some of the lesser char eer charges, bu obviously aiding the enemy. that deal presumably would net manning about 16 years in prison, but here's why you're hearing all of this talk. back and forth, b the arguments over how he was treated. it's because there is some precedent for reducing the time based on how you're treated while incarcerated. there was a case about 12 years ago where an airmen got a three for one credit for the days he had served. manning's attorney is presumably talking about a ten for one credit. up to seven years knocked off his sentence if he were to get it. >> thank you very much. next, more problems for susan rice. the u.s. ambassador facing more

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welcome back to the second half of "outfront." we start the second half of our friday show with stories we care about and we begin with three people who were killed during an attack at a community college today in the eastern wyoming city of casper. it's not entirely clear how they were killed. the suspect apparently died in a suicide. the victim's injuries were caused by a sharp edged weapon. the suspect was not a current stay tuned, but the police chief says all three knew each other. two of the nation's largest ports are shut down due to a strike. workers in los angeles and long beach walked off the job tuesday claiming their jobs are being

outsourced. the two sides remained at a standoff and that's hurting the bottom line. the executive director at the port of los angeles tells "outfront" some ships are being diverted to mexico. at this time of the year, that means everything you're buying for christmas. tensions are rising in egypt after members passed a draft constitution today. all articles were approved by the muslim brotherhood, the party of mohammed morsi. frustrated coptic christians walked out because they said their views weren't being heard. the fate of the constitution won't be clear for another two weeks when egyptians get to vote on the draft. the -- is warning tension could backfire. the reason, that's something of great concern and one group they're worried about is the

group the international community has been trying to oust in that region. mark schroeder tells us aqim is actually consolidating and getting stronger and without intervention, he says mali's military won't be able to push them out. it has been 484 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? incomes and consume er spending fell in october. economists said sandy had a significant effect on the numbers. and new problems for susan rice. this is different than what you think i'm about to say. after weeks of criticize m from republicans, she now faces scrutiny over her personal investments. stock holdings listed in her financial disclosure report raise a potential conflict of interest if she were to become a top diplomat.

a conflict of interest, it's something democrats don't like. >> the latest controversy surrounding susan rice involvings a major investment in a company that wants to build the keystone pipeline. rice owns between 3 and $600,000 worth of stock in trans canada. the keystone pipeline would contact the tar sands oil development this canada to the u.s. gulf coast and if rice becomes secretary of state, any decision on it would fall under her jurisdiction. >> we need for the next secretary of state to be completely unburdened of any interest that could present a conflict or the appearance of a conflict. >> bob deans of the natural resources defense counsel is among those opposing the pipeline for environmental reasons. his group's online publication brought rice's investments to light. white house press secretary was asked thursday if that would

pose a conflict. >> i'm not going to speculate about a personnel decision the president has not made an a nomination he has not put forward. >> the trans canada holding is just one part. the estimates the couple's net worth between 23.5 million and $43.5 million as of 2009. her financial link to trans canada was not an issue in her current position. if she became secretary of state, ethics rules would require action such as divesting her holdings linked to the keystone pipeline. a spokeswoman said in a, ambassador rice has complied with ethics rirms related to her service in the u.s. government and is committed to continuing these obligations. while the nrdc is speaking out about rice ice potential conflict of interest, its spokesman says it supports her

potential nomination and would not ask her to rekuz herself from the decision. a group launched a petition demanding rice sell her stocks in any canadian firms that could stand to benefit if the pipeline is approved. >> and now, our fourth story "outfront." washington working hard or hardly working. okay, look, we know a lot of you work hard, but then you give us things like this. that's your calendar for next year. house majority leader eric cantor released the schedule. this is bipartisan. i don't care whether you're a democrat or a republican. i'm sorry. i'm trying not to sneeze. eight days in january, two in august. you got to have august off, right? france. compare that to the average american worker to works about 230 days a year.

rihan and maria, okay, i'm sure we can all agree we would love that schedule. okay, especially if your compensation remained what it was. now, eric cantor, being serious here, says the new calendar allows lawic makers to spend time at home. 126 days in washington is 25 workweeks. that's only 50% of the year. >> members of congress are still doing their jobs when they're in their constituencies. they're still working on legislation and much else. if you're concerned about congress wasting time, i think we ought to be more concerned about the fact that individual candidates are raising money, rather than parties. being out there in their districts, getting in touch with folks who understand their interests, that's really, really important as a part of their job. >> i think we can agree on that, but do they need that much time? how much of this is going to

things americans don't want? >> it's way too much, i think, erin, and i've always thought that. we understand congress needs to be in touch with their constituents, but guess what? we have a lot of advanced technology these days that we can do that without having to be in their districts. more time that they're here in washington and especially now, erin, where we are facing such critical problems. we are looking at a situation where the tax bills for the majority of americans are going to skyrocket if congress doesn't do something. and then we're presented with a workweek that is less i think than congress has done in 20 years. look, the average american when they aren't in debt, they actually go look for another job. they work overtime. what does congress do? they work less days. >> to maria's point, there isn't one five-day workweek next year. now, i know you want to spend time with your constituent, but

just going to call out like i see it. they're all fridays and mondays. not saying that's wrong, but to maria's point, look, there's big problems facing this country. if they were getting things done, maybe people would be okay with it. >> some folks think the more bills you pass the more good your doing and i don't think that's true. but there's another piece of it. let's dig outside the box. is it possible to vote from your home constituency as well? we ought to think about having our members of congress rooted in their communities more than they're necessarily rooted in washington. i understand there's a lot of important work to be done in d.c., but i don't think this is as nearly as big a problem as the money chase and all the other things that are distracting these folks from doing their jobs ch increase the budget. that would give them the analytical tools to do their jobs well, but the calendar, i think it makes a lot of sense.

>> i was going to say, there are two problems with that. the first is a perception problem. congress has a huge perception problem among the american people, so when they are taking more days off in the face of these huge problems when americans are working their butts off to try to get out of debt, it doesn't click and the second thing is that we are going upon a holiday season here and americans are really looking to their leaders for solutions, especially after this congress. so instead of spending time outside of washington, we should actually have them not leave washington until they fix the fiscal cliff. at least let's fix the fiscal cliff and make sure that american families aren't faced with possible larger tax bills come january. >> wouldn't it just make you feel better if you didn't feel that the real reason we're goeng to get a fiscal cliff resolution, whether tas little tinkering or something bigger wasn't because they wanted to be home for christmas. >> i certainly don't think they

should go home before the situation is resolved, but i also think when you're looking at what kind of congress you want, you want a responsive congress, rooted in american communities, not inside the beltway. >> you would want mondays and fridays off, too, and you're trying to make the argument. >> americans want their leaders to work, period. >> thanks to both of you. "outfront" next, breaking news. the billionaire software tycoon is on the run and martin savidge just literally caught him. he was running. he's going join us with that right after this. he's getting it ready for you at this instant and it's going to be a lot harder to spot the things that spot you because we've got drones that are now designed to look like animals and fish. i wish we could lie here forever. i wish this test drive was over, so we could head back to the dealership. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. test drive!

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breaking news right now. fugitive software tycoon john mcafee wanted for questioning of the murder of his neighbor in belize has been on the run for weeks, but our martin savidge caught hill while on the run for an exclusive interview and is on the phone now from belize city. it was really difficult to find

him. what did he tell you, first of all? >> well, first of all, i mean, he maintains -- we drilled him over and over about this issue. look, if you had nothing to do with the murder of your neighbor, why don't you do the right thing, turn yourself into authorities. they said they only want to question you. he is terrified that is not what it's about. he said he had nothing to do with the murder, but fears that if he turns himself into authorities -- he makes that point very clear and he's adamant this is all part of some government because he didn't pay the right -- in the government. of course, government denies that completely and says this is a nation of law. he will be treated with all the proper respect and with the right authority. he is not have to be on the run. >> i know this was a clandestine meeting. very difficult to secure. this is a man who eccentric is a

fair word. i know he was in disguise. >> sort of emerging from this bizarre bubble the last couple of hours trying to arrange this and this has been days in the making. we had -- passwords, code words, everything out of an old james bond film. you switch vehicles, get another vehicle, u-turns clearly designed to keep us confused and then the meeting spot, we don't really know where it was, but when we got inside, we watched this old man sort of creep past and i said that is john mcafee and it was because once we get into this room, in he walks and he begins shaking the white powder out of his hair, puts the cane down. it's le an inspector -- really

unusual circumstances. and the man is terrified. it's very clear. i asked him if he had guns, he says no. i asked if he was on drugs, he says no, but he is very much in fear of his life. he thinks that authorities are closing in and he said his options are dwindling. >> thank you very much. reporting there has been chasing down this elusive, bizarre and very frightening story. and now, we reach out to our sources r around the world and to britain where there's a frightening trend known as grooming gangs. dozens of children are being targeted. they're money who build relationships with children, earn their trust and force them to have sex. i started by asking just how widespread this is. >> the numbers are disturbing. according to the british children's commissioner, a new report shows as many as 45 children a day may be targeted

by so-called child grooming gangs. gangs of men preying on usually goung girls, but sometimes, boys as young as 12 years old. they're called grooming gangs because of the slow process of winning over these children's trust. usually, it starts with giving them a ride home or buying them meals. then, alcohol, drugs, forcing them into sex, even stories of passing them on between men. so it is really horrific stuff and we don't know how much of these gangs there are in the u.k. and these gangs tended to put a wedge between the child and parent so that the victim doesn't even know who to trust anymore and won't go to their parents for help. >> thank you. and now, let's check in with ashley banfield in for anderson tonight. >> thank you. you know, we're keeping them honest ahead on 360. on paper, this just sounded like

a great idea. a cnn investigation found some very serious questions about whether illinois governor pat quinn launched an ambitious antiviolence program for crime prevention or political purposes. drew griffin has been watching it. it's really great. and also, baby veronica, this is her, being taken by her biological father from the parents who adopted her at birth. she had never met him before, but there is a fascinating legal twist involving the rights of native american kids and their parents and jeff toobin's going to join me with that. it's all coming up at the top of the hour. >> and now, our fifth story "outfront," the rise of drones with fins. the number of american droeps has surgeded. the numbers are incredible. in 2001, we had 50 of they wim. now, 7,500.

the machines designed to watch are now looking like fish. this is called the bio swimmer. it was developed by the department of homeland security to dart into hard to reach places under water and it's not the only nature inspired robot. there is a cheetah. put a skin on it and of course, the robo mule. both developed by the advanced -- defense advance research projects agency, darpa. out front tonight, barbara starr, pentagon correspondent. this is a new front. drones themselves have changed the entire way this country will fight war forevermore but let's start with the bioswimmer. what can it do? >> reporter: well, this is a very interesting project that was actually funded by the department of homeland security to basically -- it takes the shape of a tuna because tuna can maneuver in the water, they can get into small places, and the idea is if you could put sensors on this, cameras, acoustics, radar, whatever, you could put this kind of device into u.s.

bombers, maybe to go through shipwrecks, maybe to go through underground debris, maybe just to keep watch for potential terrorist attacks on u.s. ports. the whole idea with all of these programs is that nature really is, you know, the best way. there's a good lesson to be learned here. these are devices that can move as they do in nature like a tuna. tuna is pretty good at getting through the tight spots under water. >> when you think about just under water, simple things, 90% of the world's goods go by ship. you need to be able to see what's going on underwater. how many other animal-inspired drones are there, and are they as sophisticated and sort of natural as that tuna looked? >> reporter: well, look, most of these programs right now are in development and as you said, it will be the way the military fights in the future, or security is protected. you mentioned a couple. the cheetah, there's a horse-like object. whatever you want to say they resemble.

four-legged robot, very large, that can go over rough terrain and carry gear on it, possibly even troops. this can get into places, go over very rough, steep terrain that vehicles could not. so that's one. looking at some of the drones that are flying overhead, you can see how they trying to make those maneuver as they do in nature. but you know, one of the most interesting programs that even the military can't solve right now is a dog's nose. we all see the bomb-sniffing dogs out there. for years the military's tried to develop a mechanical dog's nose, something to match what a dog can do on the battlefield and so far, the dogs are winning. >> i have to say, i'm glad about that. you've got to have something where nature is the winner. barbara, how important is this technology? is this really becoming more and more drones? we have already seen it happen, fewer soldiers. we would be able to fight entire wars with them? >> well, maybe not entire wars.

probably there is still really the human dimension in there that somebody has to take responsibility for what is going on. but you know, what these can do is if you have these, you don't have to put as many troops at risk in hostile territory, you can keep your pilots safe, you can keep your ground troops safer, send the drones, the robot, in ahead. let them take the risk. if something mechanical gets shot up, that's a lot better than a u.s. soldier. >> barbara starr, thank you. pretty incredible images there. suspicion, intrigue and dirty dealings. we all enjoy hearing about them. there's just something about the juicy details of a great scandal. r ] introducing the new dell xps 12. part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. it's changing the conversation. ♪ time for citi price rewind.

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the petraeus sex scandal isn't the first such controversy, of course. watergate, iran contra, monica lewinsky, all of them were second term scandals after

convincing re-election victories. hm, what is it about that? john avlon has a new book that gives us perspective on these stories called "deadline artists, scandal, tragedies and triumphs." john came "outfront" earlier to tell me about it. you're writing this, you've done this before. why did you decide to go after this scandal? >> this is the stuff of breaking news. these have always been the stuff of breaking news. whether newspapers in 1899 or online today, this is what gets people's attention. when you look at the best of american columns, this is an american art form and they really do, the columnists, opinion makers, have strong personalities, they're great story tellers and they help make sense of the chaos of the world around us. when you bring the best of the past in one book it's great reading just as it was today, history in the present tense. >> it makes me think about how different things used to be with newspaper columnists, now you have this cacophony of online commentary. >> that's one of the things we

learned when putting together this book. there's a real difference between the classic reported column of the past and the online opinion today. what you realize is those reporters in the past, they did reported columns. they told stories. they were story tellers first. they did their own reporting, they brought the characters out, the heroes and the villains, and made things come alive. they weren't relying on television. it was vivid descriptive stories. that's why they read so beautifully today. so often we're content to write our own opinions and too many folks don't get out from behind their desks. there's a real difference in the quality of story telling. we can learn a lot from these folks. >> what are your favorite columns in the book? >> two in particular. murray compton interviews the most vicious racist you ever met and lets him hang himself. he doesn't pass judgment. he lets him speak in his own words. in fact, he begins the column by saying, he describes this individual and says he's almost totally impossible to dislike. that lack of judgment and letting a character speak for